I drove down the five-minute stretch of road between me andmy closest neighbor, my windows were down and my long hair was out of the bun I'd had it in all day. The closed my eyes as I sped up, breathing in the free air.
There were houses on the empty stretch of land I drove down. But they were all unoccupied because of proximity to the forest, and the reason hers was the deepest was because it had also been the cheapest at the time. The same house and land in a better neighborhood would be considered affluent. Here? Not so much.
The road terminated at my house and I pulled into the barely paved drive way, throwing a look at my vegetable garden out front. There was a much bigger one outside and potted plants everywhere inside. Plants were my comfort vices. Having a spot of greenery around had always soothed me, my house was my haven. Having a shapeshifter pack so closely deterred would be assailants as well. Giving my added protection from unwanted visitors.
Because of my deeply untrusting nature, I rarely if ever invited people over. Even Quen, whom I'd been dating for almost three years had only been a handful of times and always for work related stuff. I liked my things just how I wanted them, my chaos was a controlled one. Nothing moved without my knowledge, which was how I knew there was someone insidemy house.
I heard some movement inside and paused just as I was about to put the key in. I dropped my work bag with the files in a corner and moved the leaves in a huge vase aside so I could pull out the bow hidden there, my quiver of arrows was hidden behind another vase. I hung it over my shoulder and rushed towards the backyard. Cursing at having left my blades in the car, it would have been really good to have guns right about now.
Too bad they were now luxury items carried only by the richest of the rich. After the fourth world war which saw denizen come out of hiding and assume power, the modern weapons began to fail. Something about magic saturating the air. Because of how much violence guns could perpetrate, the denizen outlawed them. Anyone that had them could not use them, any use of a gun was met with immediate fatal action by the denizen. Only exception being self-defense.
So all sorts of blades and arrows became in vogue. And if one wanted to protect themselves as a field agent of any kind, those were the weapons to learn and master. I peeked through windows as I ran around on silent feet, trying to get a look of the perp and figure out exactly where they were. I finally spied their back inside the kitchen. I moved the entrance again, I carefully opened the unlocked door and moved silently with my notched bow raised till I had the assailant in silent.
They were doing something at my sink. They also looked female if the long hair and softly curved form was anything to go by. "Don't. Move." The figure froze.
"Lift your hands slowly."
The woman obliged. She was wearing faded jeans and a huge sweatshirt that had seen better days. Her dark auburn hair was in a messy pony tail.
"Turn around. Slowly." She paused for a second before turning carefully to face me. My heart jumped and I slowly lowered the bow.
"Hey sis," my sister murmured quietly, hands still up. She looked lean, not as bad as the last time I saw her but not healthy either.
I scoffed and looked away. Not even knowing if I should be happy or angry. Before I could speak a small sound drew my attention to the parcel I only now noticed on top of my counter top.
She hurried to it and lifted a fussing baby out and my mouth dropped open as she began to bounce the baby around my kitchen.
I closed my mouth with a thud, turned around and left the room, heading out to carry the things I'd dropped on the porch and return the bow and arrows to where I stashed them.
I ignored my sisters watching eyes and moved into the small hallway in front of my room which I entered and dropped my bag at my work station. Doing everything on autopilot while my mind seethed.
Why was she here? Whose baby was it? Why was I asking questions I already knew the answers to? I sighed and rubbed my forehead, I better deal with her before I get on with my day, no doubt she was here for money.
I went back to the living room to find her sitting meekly on my sofa.
"So what's it going to be this time? How much?" she turned to me in shock. Trying to act as if she didn't know what I was taking about.
"That's-that's not why I'm here." She looked down, still lightly bouncing her child.
I raised a brow, "So you don't need money?"
Her head was bent and I almost couldn't hear what she was saying.
"I do, but I need a place to stay too," she murmured and I sighed.
"You honestly think I am going to let you stay here? How long have you been clean?" she looked up at me in shock.
"I haven't been taking anything!"
"Jesus, don't act so shocked. You've been a junkie almost the whole time I've known you. You were a junkie the last time I saw you, what do you expect me to think?"
She looked down again, at her baby. "I don't expect you to believe me," she sniffed and I rolled my eyes. Bring on the waterworks. "I have been clean ever since I knew I was going to have her." She touched the baby's cheek and looked up at me. "Please help us, I have nowhere else to go."
Of course I was the last option. That was always the issue with us wasn't it? I was the one she remembered after everyone else had been seen to. It had taken me a while to figure that I didn't rate as high on her list as she used to rate on mine.
"I sent you ten thousand dollars eight months ago Izzy, before that you'd stolen expensive appliances from my apartment. I'm guessing you blew all the money on ice. The least you could do was pick my calls, or call yourself to check in so I'd know your sorry ass was still alive, but no. As far as you were concerned I was only a worm that needed the littlest attention paid to it, until you needed something that is."
She's been sobbing the whole time I spoke. "I'm sorry," she whispered and I scoffed.
"Sorry for yourself. And please, I should warn you your tears won't work this time. Tell me how much you want so I can write you the check and you can be on your way."
I marched into the kitchen and ripped open my fridge, looking for something to quench my thirst.
"Why are you talking to me this way?" she said from the door way and I turned to her.
"Why wont I? I am trying to set boundaries Ysolde, this is what you do. You show up out of the blue with some sob story. I give you some money. You disappear. A year or two later you show up again. You don't give a fuck what you're doing to me. All you want is your next fix, damn everything else. You don't think of how every time you come around saying you stay clean, saying you sort yourself out, my heart hopes." Tears beaded in the corners of my eye and rolled but I refused to wipe them away. "Against all reason, against all proof I have to the contrary, my heart hopes. That maybe this time it is real, maybe this time she will get better. But you're the queen and I am your pawn. You pull the rug from under me faster than I can blink and break my heart all over again. No more Ysolde. I don't want to hear the sob story, you even have a baby this time. Bravo. Now how much do you fucking want? State your price so I can get you the fuck out of my house."
I was panting after the rant and she looked at me with wide eyes. "I-I'm s-sorry, I-"
"I don't need your fucking apology!" she flinched and the baby started crying.
She came towards me and wen on her knees. My eyes widened. "What are you doing?"
"I don't care what you think of me, God knows I deserve it all. I have hurt every single person in my life and I hurt you the most. Because I always believed you will always be there for me. I know you won't believe me but I am clean, I've been clean for months. I used the money to put myself in rehab while I carried her." I'm guessing her was the baby.
"I woudn't be here if I had any other choice but come rain or shine, you are the only person I trust with my child." That drew a frown from me.
"What?"
"I said-"
"-I heard what you said, get up or else I wont listen anymore."
"Bu-"
"Get up Ysolde."
After a moment she got up and looked hesitantly up at me. The child did same, the blue eyes they shared peering up at me.
"Well?"
She cleared her throat.
"I need your help; my baby needs your help."
I was silent for a moment, already knowing that even if she was lying there was no way I was going to turn my sister away. That was always the problem wasn't it? I could never resist her sob stories. Fictional or not. The only thing I could do was know what kind of shit my sister had gotten into this time.
"What happened?" I finally asked and she gave a small sigh of relief.
"It's her father. He wants her."
"And…?"
She looked at me. "He doesn't want me."
Oh. Oh. "What happened?"
She dropped into the only chair in my kitchen. The baby dozing.
"Her father is a rogue that used to hang with my…dealer." She swallowed and looked away. "We dated for a while, he too was stuck on ice. Things were going predictably haywire and then I found out I was pregnant and I knew I had to leave."
Noticing her tone and choice of words I had to ask. "Did he hit you?"
She froze. "He didn't mean to." She mumbled and I rolled my eyes. The oldest excuse in the book. "His beast got mad sometimes and if I was there he would take it out on me," she shrugged. "He was good to me the rest of the time so I didn't want to lose him."
It probably had more to do with the fact that he could afford to keep them both on ice while she could not. I didn't say that though,
"When I realized I was pregnant, for a brief moment I entertained the idea of a family with him. As a rogue, having a child was a ticket back into the pack structure as everyone valued children, he too had the same idea only I wasn't in his plans. Once I figured this out I got the money you gave me and booked an extended stay at a rehab center. I gave birth there and started planning escape to you. You are the only one I know who can help me. Please," her eyes teared up as she begged, "Help me."
I was silent, considering. "Are you really clean?"
She nodded profusely, "I can take whatever tests you want, I swear I am clean."
"Well you will have to support yourself, I guess you can stay here for the mean time. I will see what I can do about your ex-boyfriend."
She nodded and began to cry. "Thank you. Thank you very much." She sobbed into her baby's wrap. I slowly went towards her, and placed a shaky hand on her back, this only made her cry more.
"Come on, let's get you two set up in my spare room."
She let me lead her.
"By the way, how did you get in?"
She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I picked the lock," she admitted and I sighed. Figures.